The annulus of a heart valve may, over time, be subject to distention leading to poor coaptation of the leaflets, resulting in decreased sealing of the valve.
To treat this ailment, it is well-known to perform an annuloplasty, i.e. a recalibration of the annulus using a member implanted on the valve annulus.
This annuloplasty member may be a prosthetic annulus fixed on the native valve annulus. This technique, however, has the drawback of involving open-heart surgery.
The annuloplasty member may also be a deformable member, able to be introduced using a catheter through minimally-invasive vascular access, then able to be delivered through the catheter and fixed near the valve annulus before being circumferentially withdrawn.
The existing annuloplasty members of this type, and the corresponding implantation techniques, like systems using the coronary sinuses, are not, however, fully satisfactory.
Moreover, it may be necessary to implant a prosthetic heart valve, in particular percutaneously using a catheter. Currently, this type of percutaneous implantation is difficult on the mitral valve of a heart, due essentially to the fact that the annulus of a mitral valve is elastic and may be distended during percutaneous implantation of a prosthetic valve.